In other words, you are willing to sacrifice a few for the good of the many.

I don't know where you get your information, but you must have read it backwards. The number of people who die from the flu every year is astounding. The number of people who die from the flu vaccine every year are coincidental cases. People over 65 are the ones who need protection from live influenza the most since without the antibodies already present, they're less likely to be strong enough to fight off the virus. In other words, you saying that the elderly are the most at risk of dying from the vaccine is likely true, but along the same line, they're the most likely to contract and die if they even get a mild strain of live influenza virus.

To those of you saying you got the flu vaccine and felt terrible for a day or so, you had nothing close to the flu. Even these days, unless you're hopped up on as many NSAIDs as you can take within a reasonable period, you will be too weak to be walking around. I once took an exam freshman year as I was coming down with the flu. It was in February, and I went to the test wearing two under armours, a coat, tights, pants and a sweatshirt because my chills were that ferocious. After walking to the test and back, I was so destroyed that my roomate ended up calling my parents who took me out of school for four days. That's normalfor the flu, not just feeling sick and going to wal-mart for some tylenol and kleenex.

So yes Lee, by your logic, I would gladly sacrifice a few to keep tens of thousands from dying as they do each year.

Quote:

The MMWR study also found that during seasons when influenza A (H3N2) viruses were prominent death rates were more than double what they were during seasons when influenza A (H1N1) or influenza B viruses predominated. In addition, the study confirmed previous findings that about 90% of influenza associated deaths occur among adults 65 years and older.